Bernard Dieterle / Manfred Engel / Dieter Lamping / Monika Ritzer:

KulturPoetik – a Journal Presents Itself (1)

Today, a cultural approach is the most vital and promising paradigm of literary studies. This message has been widely acknowledged. What we still do not know, however, is what the new magic formula "literary studies as cultural poetics" really implies.
Literary studies as cultural poetics are, first of all, marked by their special point of view and their characteristic thematic attention: they regard literature as a part of overall culture, focussing on its participation in constituting, handing down and altering cultural meaning and signs. Hence, they pay particular attention to basic anthropological topics (such as: love, death, states of ecstasy and intoxication, insanity, dreams, the body, memory, social conventions, gender, etc.) and the corresponding cultural techniques as well as to intercultural contacts and conflicts. They examine interactions between literature and the system of knowledge, between literature and other media (intermediality and media competition) and the specific medial contribution of literature to cultural communication, sign-formation and the shaping of perceptions. Yet, they also reflect the poetics of culture, proto-poetic elements within the system of knowledge, the media, social relationships and everyday life.
From a methodological point of view, the study of cultural poetics has been but vaguely outlined; KulturPoetik shall be open to all schools and approaches, including the non-established ones – the editors hope for lively and controversial debate.

KulturPoetik will appear twice a year, each number comprising approximately 150 pages. In addition to the sections for essays and for reviews (as of issue 2), every issue will include the following sections: "Forum" (for brief statements regarding current problems or for comments on articles in previous issues); "Veranstaltungshinweise (Events)/Calls for Papers" and "Neuerscheinungen (New Publications)". For these sections, we warmly invite information and contributions from our readers.
The first two issues of KulturPoetik will be closely interlinked (2), as they present the contributions to a symposium on the question "Literary Studies as Cultural Poetics?". Most of these essays exploit the particular mine of conceptual and methodological innovation which is opened by practical research work. So they can supplement the – well-known and well documented – debate on schools and methods of cultural studies (3) in a welcome and stimulating way. Therefore, the editors considered these essays particularly suitable for starting off a new journal. For all following issues, we do require offers of contribution – and hope for essays from as many countries as possible and from the most diverse schools of culturally oriented literary studies.

KulturPoetik offers itself as a forum for all fields of cultural poetics. The name of the journal denotes its objective: it shall be devoted to all cultural aspects of literature and to all literary aspects of culture. Theoretical contributions are as welcome as research on individual subjects. Since cultural poetics is aimed at crossing boundaries of all kinds, we are particularly interested in interdisciplinary and comparative work.
The editors attach great importance to two points: (1) Cultural poetics shall remain a field of literary studies and must neither forsake its special point of view (and its identity as a discipline) nor neglect the characteristic input that literature adds to overall culture and its own individual dynamics. Occasionally, KulturPoetik will publish articles on general cultural matters, yet, in its core, it will remain a journal for literary studies. (2) All contributions should be written in a way that appeals not only to scholars, but also to interested laypersons.

The journal addresses: students; lecturers in cultural studies, in the philological disciplines (in particular German, English, American and Romance studies, as well as comparative literature) and in all disciplines relating to philosophy and the history of science; teachers in the humanities; persons engaged in the cultural sector in whatever sphere of activity; all readers interested in culture and literature and in their common history.
For the terms of subscription, please check the Internet or contact the publisher. Please note our favourable introductory offer and the special conditions for students.

The Editors

(1) English translation by Leila Kais-Heinrich. [back]

(2) In future, roughly every second issue of KulturPoetik will deal (at least partly) with a specific subject. External editors are welcome to involve themselves here. [back]

(3) Cf. the bibliography attached to this issue. [back]